September 14, 1997|by AMY LONGSDORF (A free-lance story for The Morning Call)

A kiss is just a kiss, but not this one. This kiss required discussion. This kiss literally stopped traffic. This kiss is already the most talked-about lip-lock of the fall movie season.

The smooch-giver in question is Tom Selleck. No surprise there. The Clark Gable look-alike has puckered up to the likes of Nancy Travis ("Three Men and a Little Baby"), Paulina Porizkova ("Her Alibi") and Courteney Cox (TV's "Friends"). But Selleck's partner this time around is none other than Kevin Kline.

Shot along a Northern New Jersey interstate, the kiss is already helping to make the new outing comedy "In & Out" one of the fall's most eagerly anticipated offerings. Written by Paul Rudnick ("The Addams Family") and directed by Frank Oz ("Housesitter"), the film was inspired by the moment when Tom Hanks accepted his "Philadelphia" Academy Award in honor of his gay drama teacher.

In the new movie, scheduled to arrive in area theaters on Friday, a blond-haired Matt Dillon (obviously spoofing Brad Pitt) uses his Oscar-winning speech to out his small-town English instructor (Kline). Things are complicated by the fact that Kline's character is a week away from marrying his longtime sweetheart (Joan Cusack). Assigned to get to the bottom of the is-he-or-isn't-he-gay mystery is an openly homosexual tabloid TV reporter, played by Selleck.

Back to that kiss. As Kevin Kline sees it, Selleck was the ultimate smooth operator. "You'd think there would have been a beard burn problem," muses Kline. "But I've gotten worse beard burn from some women."

"All I can say," adds Selleck, "is that Kevin was a complete gentleman. He even took responsibility for the Tic-Tacs."

Kline also took responsibility for the alarm of a local policeman who held up traffic while the guys went at it. "This cop was obviously a very big fan of Tom's from the `Magnum P.I.' days," Kline says. "You should have seen the look on the guy's face when we went into that clinch. The poor man stopped me at lunch and said, `This is a comedy, right?' "

"In & Out" is indeed a comedy. It's also Selleck's first -- and only -- gay role since suing The Globe tabloid newspaper in 1993 for printing a story alleging that he was a homosexual. The actor, who is married to English actress Jillie Mack, with whom he has an 8-year-old daughter, maintains that his role in "In & Out" is not an attempt to make peace with the gay community.

"Look, it's not anti-gay to say you're not gay," Selleck, 52, insists. "I sued The (National) Enquirer in 1983 when they said I had an affair with Victoria Principal, whom I had never met. ...

"When The Globe printed the gay story, I had made a commitment to my wife, who'd given birth to my daughter. I have a 29-year-old (step)son. This tabloid was implying that I was leading a double life. It was hurtful to other people, which is where I draw the line."

Over the years, Selleck has heard the gay rumors time and time again. "I don't know where it comes from," he shrugs. "I guess some folks who are gay want me to be gay. That's fine with me. You haven't made it until people want to make up things about you."

If he were gay, would he join actors such as Ellen DeGeneres, Anne Heche and Ian McKellen in coming out of the closet?

"If I wanted to have heterosexual sex hanging from a chandelier -- and I'm not equating that with gay sex -- I wouldn't admit it," Selleck replies. "I'm a very private person. That's a question everybody has to answer for themselves. There's no right or wrong on that issue."

Selleck, who has donated money to conservative Pat Buchanan and introduced Nancy Reagan at the 1984 Republican National Convention, remains unwilling to air his views on such hot-button topics as gay marriage. "Unless I run for office, my opinion is none of your business," he sniffs. But on screen, anyway, he is glad to be gay.

"I pushed this guy toward being a ruthless, unethical journalist instead of trying to prove he was gay in every scene," Selleck remarks. "Here's a guy who's at peace with his sexuality but not at peace with being a sleazeball reporter.

"After seeing `In & Out,' people have said to me, `Gee, I didn't think you'd do a part like this. What about your image?,' " Selleck laughs, taking off his nubby white sweater in a suite at the Regency Hotel. And yes, the 6-foot-4 star looks as ruggedly handsome in person as he does on those "Magnum P.I." reruns.

Image, it turns out, was the last thing on Selleck's mind. "Look, I've been around long enough to know that actors who obsess about their image are doomed to watch their old movies on TV when nobody wants to hire them. You can't be who you were 10 years ago. I think if you can afford to, you should take risks."